skip to Main Content
Fight Strength And Athletic Performance Put To The Test This Past Weekend!

Fight Strength And Athletic Performance Put To The Test This Past Weekend!

20130807_124102

So I have to say that this past weekend turned out to be quite an experience for one of my strength and conditioning students. You see I’ve trained a number of different athletes in my day and I’ve been fortunate enough to turn out some guys that have ended up dominating in the male athletic arena. However this past weekend was a first for me because the athlete that was able to hopefully benefit at least a little from the strength and conditioning hell that I so often implement was my first competing female fighter!

A Little Girl Power On Display!

Yep, you heard it right my friend! My devoted strength student and year long Muay Thai practitioner Victoria went down to Florida this past weekend to win her very first amateur kickboxing fight. I remember performing her first evaluation just about a year ago and unlike many that walk in the doors to get a taste of  my athletic performance and strength program she kept coming back for more time after time!

Where many people popped in for a day to get a taste of a fully structured and planned strength and conditioning program a taste is apparently all many ever want, but not Victoria. Like the rest of my strength and conditioning crew she is used to the comprehensive approach I like to implement including athletic performance conditioning and all out athletic strength. This ball busting combination has been tested to be tried and true and this past weekend she proved it for me again. As a strength coach I am super proud. I love seeing my athletes succeed after all the hard work and sacrifice!

HardStyle Abs DVD by Pavel

According to my good friend and head Muay Thai Kru Jeff Perry she physically controlled her opponent for the distance which ultimately resulted in a win by unanimous decision. Apparently Victoria was doing a little HULK Smashing of her own… perhaps SHE-HULK style? Well take a look and see for yourself. By the way she’s the fighter with the pink head guard and gloves 🙂

As you can see this is an extremely exerting sport. The stress on the body is pushed to the max whenever a fight takes place. I mean for crying out loud it’s a FIGHT! As you’ve probably noticed I’ve been placing a bit more emphasis on the athletic performance side of stuff as of late. This is part of the program that I use with my athletes like Victoria to give them the foot speed, conditioning, and quickness they need to gain an edge and to create openings on their competition for them to capitalize on.

Convict Conditioning, Volume 4: Advanced Bridging, Forging an Iron Spine

Trust me, the rest of my students (and Victoria) get no shortage of kettlebell, barbell, and medicine ball work either. The strength and performance side of things are like cereal and milk, the burger and the bun, and Cheech and Chong. The point is that you just can’t have one without the other. Well, maybe you can, but why take the risk? 🙂

As part of developing athleticism I’m big on making athletes think about what they are doing while they are doing it. For instance, various agility and performance drills require a great deal of concentration (particularly in the beginning) until the athletes’ nervous system adapts to certain movements and they can go about performing certain movements without thinking. Here’s a nice little footwork drill that I like doing with some of my athletes from time to time. It requires a great deal of thinking at first until the necessary feel is adapted by the athlete which makes performing it more seamless. Oh yeah, the Elvis fist pump at the end requires a great deal of concentration as well! 🙂

The key to this drill is jumping into the ladder square with 2 feet and landing outside the ladder with only one foot. When the outside foot lands outside the ladder the heel slap then comes on the trailing inside foot. The heel slap is optional of course. Believe it or not this little drill is surprisingly exerting and would fit well into your strength and athletic performance program if you are big on results! It is tremendous for developing quickness, hand/eye coordination, and foot/eye coordination.  It is an exercise you should be doing.



In addition to this awesome news with Victoria I also wanted to give you a heads up on some things that will be coming to the website real soon. I’m going to be launching a BRAND NEW ebook product in the very near future. It’s been a tremendous experience making this one and I’m really excited about it as well! However it’s not here yet so in the meantime make sure you get yourself a copy of my Brandon Richey’s Better Than Steroids ebook right here now.

Remember to leave your questions and comments in the comment box below this article. Also don’t forget that most anyone can train hard, but only the best train smart my friend.

FacebooktwitterredditpinterestFacebooktwitterredditpinterest

Brandon

I'm a Certified Strength And Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and author. I have had over 17 years experience in MMA fitness, strength and conditoning, and athletic performance for most every sport. As an author and specialist I've written close to a million words on fitness and strength. I'm also a Muay Thai practictioner and enjoy helping others to reach their peak potential through fitness and performance.

Leave a Reply

Back To Top
Sign Up To Get All The Latest Deals And My BRF Strength Newsletter!

Brandon Richey Fitness Will Never Share Your Information With Anyone
Free Innovative Conditioning Guide!

Just Enter Your Name & Email & Access My Guide